Quote of the Day

“Originally, believe it or not, Labor Day actually had something to do with showing respect for labor.

”Hereís how it happened: In 1894 Pullman workers, facing wage cuts in the wake of a financial crisis, went on strike ó and Grover Cleveland deployed 12,000 soldiers to break the union. He succeeded, but using armed force to protect the interests of property was so blatant that even the Gilded Age was shocked. So Congress, in a lame attempt at appeasement, unanimously passed legislation symbolically honoring the nationís workers.

“Itís all hard to imagine now ... that Congress would unanimously offer even an empty gesture of support for workersí dignity. For the fact is that many of todayís politicians canít even bring themselves to fake respect for ordinary working Americans.”